MORAL ORDER
GOD HAS ESTABLISHED BOTH MORAL AND PHYSICAL LAWS WHICH, IF OBEYED, BRING ORDER AND BLESSING TO EVERY ASPECT OF LIFE
Every aspect of the world was created with a structure, a character, and a norm. These underlying principles are God’s “laws” and can be known through both special revelation (God’s words in the Bible) and general revelation (the structure of the world he made). They can be summarized under two headings: physical laws, which are the laws of science and nature; and moral laws, which govern the relationships, attitudes, and behavior between God and man and also between individuals, families, communities, and nations.
There are two aspects to God’s moral laws: general moral laws and codified moral laws. The Bible makes it clear that God has made his general moral laws known to all men, through their conscience. All people have a sense of right and wrong, even if they have never heard of God or the Bible. There are also the codified moral laws which are the moral laws clearly written in Scripture. Moral laws tell us what things we ought to do and those things we ought not to do. Some are specific like the Ten Commandments. Others are more general, urging us to love, serve, be forgiving, etc.
There is a common misunderstanding that science (or physical laws) covers facts that are constant, reliable, and true, while morality and religion are based on values that are subjective, evolving, and relative to the individual. A Christian or biblical worldview draws no such distinction. It insists that all God’s laws and truth govern all creation.
The reason these two types of laws seem so different is that in the physical world, stones fall, planets move in orbit – all with no choice in the matter – because here God rules directly. In culture and society, God has chosen to rule indirectly, entrusting humans with the task of living in community, doing justice, producing art, educating children, etc. And although a stone cannot defy God’s law of gravity, human beings can and do rebel against God’s moral and social order. Still, that should not blind us from the fact that there is a simple, objective, purposeful, and planned universal order covering both nature and human nature. [1]
John in his gospel reveals the single source of that order – Jesus Christ himself. “In the beginning was the Word", a name for Jesus (Logos, meaning “The Logic”), who not only is the source of all truth, order, and creation, but is Truth. “Through him (Jesus) all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made” (John 1:1).
The irony is that modern man has accepted the truth regarding physical laws as fact, but ignores the creator of them. No scientist doubts the laws of thermodynamics, gravity, the rotation of the planets, etc. In fact, we depend on the reliability and truth of those laws for our very existence, and everyone agrees that to ignore them is foolish and dangerous. The only reason man obeys physical laws is because he has no choice in the matter and it’s to our advantage to do so.
But, humans don’t discover truth by abstract logic alone, but by experimenting with doing (or not doing) God’s will. So, when it comes to moral laws, man is always trying to beat the system and disobey God. This is because man has a free will and can choose to violate them. However, there are always unintended consequences for violating moral laws. Those consequences are not always immediately obvious, and there are often short term “benefits” in disobeying them. Also, when one person disobeys a moral law and thereby gains a momentary “advantage," it creates tremendous incentive for disobedience by everyone, even those who say they “believe” in God’s moral laws. For example, if one person tells a lie and prospers, it tempts me to lie. This is why immorality in society is so difficult to stop.
The truth is, both physical laws and moral laws are God’s gracious gifts to mankind – like the boundaries and rules loving human parents set to protect their children. It saddens God to no end to see the self-inflicted misery of people who just don’t trust his wisdom and love for man as expressed in his laws. When and if they are obeyed, God has promised prosperity, longevity, and contentment to individuals, communities, and nations -- when they are violated, just the opposite.
By Jesus day, the Jewish religious leaders had added to God’s moral laws, legalistic interpretations or “traditions of the men” which in some cases had the practical effect of actually superseding God’s moral laws. Jesus repudiated these traditions, even if they were well meaning. Likewise, Christians have developed traditions and customs which place expectations on people God did not, and make sins of behaviors God did not prohibit (no alcohol, church twice on Sunday, only ordained people can preach, etc.). While these traditions may be well meaning and perhaps even helpful and wise, we must be careful because these are man’s ideas and may not be God’s. They do not have the moral authority of God’s laws and teachings as found in scripture.
It is not necessary for us to understand everything about God and life in order to have a practical, useful, and biblical worldview. We need only to trust by faith, God's moral laws with as much confidence we accept his physical laws.
- See Charles Colson, How Now Shall We Live? (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers), chapter 2. Ps. 19:7-9; Ps. 25:4, 5; Job 38:33; Col. 1:16-17; John 1:1-3, 14; Deut. 30:15-19; Rom. 1:18-20; Mark 7:8